Crucial Conversations Luncheon

Monday's Crucial Conversation Luncheon put on by NC Policy Watch was focused on gun violence prevention and the upcoming anniversary of the Charleston massacre.

NC State Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr. spoke about the need for rational, logical gun violence prevention reforms. He recounted his own story of having to fight for his life and to save his arm from a bullet that was fired at him. He reminded us that we shouldn’t forget the 75,000 people who are shot and survive.

Rev. Middleton pastors the Mount Zion AME Church in Charleston, SC, a sister church to Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that stands just a few blocks away. He was a close personal friend of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was murdered at Emanuel last June. He spoke about the number of mass shootings that have taken the news headlines. In SC, they had a Stand Up Sunday where congregations throughout the state united in the spirit of morality. “A tragedy like this can happen to any of us anywhere. Therefore, we must begin to do something. “

Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches. She spoke about the upcoming Stand Up Sabbath the weekend of June 17-19 that commemorates the Charleston massacre and all that are killed and injured by gun violence. She reminded us that the prophet Isaiah turned a weapon of death into a flourishing a peace.